Competition Fosters Trust

Research output: Working paperResearch

We study the effects of reputation and competition in a stylized market for experience goods. If interaction is anonymous, such markets perform poorly: sellers are not trustworthy, and buyers do not trust sellers. If sellers are identifiable and can, hence, build a reputation, efficiency quadruples but is still at only a third of the first best. Adding more information by granting buyers access to all sellers' complete history has, somewhat surprisingly, no effect. On the other hand, we find that competition, coupled with some minimal information, eliminates the trust problem almost completely.
Original languageEnglish
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Nov 2006

    Research areas

  • Experience Goods, Competition, Reputation, Trust, Moral hazard, Information conditions

ID: 241647312